Lift the horizons of the homeless

As many people prepare to mark World Mental Health Day tomorrow, we want to highlight the continuing lack of adequate and appropriate mental health support services for rough sleepers and homeless people, and those at risk of homelessness. Research from the Salvation Army revealed that more than a third of homeless clients they surveyed nationally had attempted suicide at least once, with around six out of 10 having paranoid personality disorder. Homeless Link's national Survey of Needs and Provision shows that a third of clients experience poor mental health, with this rising to 43% of day centre clients.

How can we continue to allow people with a mental illness to sleep on our pavements? Why do those recovering from traumatic childhoods of physical, emotional or sexual abuse make up such a high proportion of rough sleepers and homeless hostel residents? Why aren't we able to offer the best mental-health treatment and support to those who need it most before they end up homeless? We urge Phil Hope MP, the care services minister, to include a commitment in the government's New Horizons framework strategy that specifically recognises the needs of homeless people – and a commitment that no one with a diagnosed mental illness should be left sleeping rough by 2012.

The World Health Organisation predicts that within 20 years more people will be affected by depression than any other health problem. That must not turn into a rough sleeping and homelessness problem. St Mungo's peer research suggests that homeless people want more specialist support when and where they need it, through drop-in centres and on-site mental health workers, and better-tailored long-term care from frontline services working together more effectively than they do now. They deserve nothing less.